It is situated less than two kilometres west from the centre of Câmara de Lobos, between the parishes of Quinta Grandeand Câmara de Lobos. A diamond-shaped sea-cliff escarpment from 560 metres (1,840 ft) to 589 metres (1,932 ft) above sea level, Cabo Girão lies between two river-valleys that flow into the Atlantic Ocean. The escarpment/cliffs extend approximately three kilometres between the urban sprawl of Câmara de Lobos to the east and the river-valley of Quinta Grande in the west.

Although brochures claim that it is the second highest cliff in Europe, at least five European cliffs (Hornelen at 860 metres, Cape Enniberg at 750 metres, Vixía Herbeira at 613 metres, Preikestolen at 604 metres and Slieve Leagueat 601 metres) are higher.

There are terraced fields (Fajãs de Cabo Girão) located below the sheer cliffs, which at one time only accessible by boat. In August 2003, a cable car was installed on the slope of the cliff so farmers can reach these low-lying fields.

The Viewpoint of the Bay d’Abra gives us a spectacular view of the Ponta de São Lourenço and its coastline that features a whimsical result of erosion cut caused by the sea and winds on the various eruptive materials, with over views the north and south coast of the island.

The cathedral is designed in a Gothic style and has three naves. The roof of the cathedral features a Mudéjar-inspired design and is of cedar wood. The exterior walls are made of stone from Cabo Girão.

The cathedral contains a silver processional cross, donated by King Manuel I of Portugal, considered one of the masterpieces of precious metalwork of Manueline Portugal.

A statue of Pope John Paul II is located outside the cathedral, which was moved to its current position after formerly being installed in the urban area of Funchal adjacent to the waterfront.

During the 1490s, Manuel I sent architect Pêro Anes or Gil Enes to work on the design of the cathedral of Funchal. The cathedral was structurally complete in 1514. Prior to completion, however, by 1508, when Funchal was elevated to the status of a city, the cathedral was already being used for the celebration of Mass. The spire of the bell tower and a few additional details were finalized in 1517-1518.

The beach is also known for therapeutic properties of its sands, scientifically proven fact, indicated for problems of rheumatic forums and ortopédico.1

The beach of Porto Santo is usually divided into areas for better administration: Calheta, Cabeço Bridge, Ribeiro Cochino, Ribeiro Salgado, Fontinha and Penedo. Since the area of Fontinha is the only blue flag.

The mountainous northeast part of the island, consists of two geomorphological structures that includes: an area of peaks, Pico do Castelo (437 meters), Pico da Juliana (447 meters), Pico da Gandaia (499 meters) and Pico do Facho (517 meters); and between the eastern coast and this area, a series of minor peaks, Pico do Maçarico (285 meters), Pico do Concelho (324 meters) and Pico Branco (450 meters).

The southwest part of the island, although relatively flat, includes a series of elevations 100 meters in height or greater, such as Pico Ana Fereira (283 meters), Pico do Espigão (270 meters) and the Cabeço do Zimbralinho (183 meters).

The slope of the western part of the island slopes from 150 meters to the south coast reaching the sandy beaches of Porto Santo. A third system, in the west-northwest, that includes Cabeço da Bárbara Gomes (227 meters) and Cabeço das Canelinhas (176 meters) is distinct from the areas identified. The island is encircled by an oceanic platform between 20 and 37 km², with a minimum depth of 8 meters (Baixa do Noroeste), and limited by the flanks of a large submarine volcano.

The island’s submarine activity occurred during the Miocene epoch, producing basaltic eruptions that persisted to the Quaternary period. There were three phases of distinct volcanism, followed by periods of calm associated with sedimentation:

1st Phase – associated with basaltic lava, pyroclastic flows, trachyte domes that were to form Pico do Concelho, Pico do Facho, Pico do Juliana and the Ponta da Calheta. This period was followed by a period of marine fossil accumulation, concentrated in the northeast of the island to about 300 meters altitude (around Pico do Juliana, Pico de Ana Ferreira and Ribeira do Moledo);

2nd Phase – this was a period of fissural volcanism that cut across and metamorphosed the older formations, occurring in the early Pliocene period;

3rd Phase – was an intrusive phase, resulting in a number of faults and dikes that cut across the Calcareous fossils. Likely occurring in the Pliocene, it was followed by deposits of layers of detritic and calcareous sediments, that included brownish-red alluvial layers, along the island’s flanks and beach.

The Gibraltarians are fondly remembered on the island where they were called Gibraltinos. Some Gibraltarians had married Madeirans during this time and stayed after the war was over.

On November 12, 1940 Hitler issued Führer Directive No. 18 in which there was the possibility to invade Portugal and he also said “I also request that the problem of occupying Madeira and the Azores should be considered, together with the advantages and disadvantages which this would entail for our sea and air warfare. The results of these investigations are to be submitted to me as soon as possible.

On the 28 May 1944 the first repatriation party leaves Madeira for Gibraltar and by the end of 1944 only 520 non-priority evacuees remained on the island.

More recently a monument was made in Gibraltar and shipped to Madeira where it has been erected next to a small chapel at Santa Caterina park, Funchal. The monument is a gift and symbol of ever-lasting thanks given by the people of Gibraltar to the island of Madeira and its inhabitants.

It appears that some knowledge of Atlantic islands, such as Madeira, existed before the discovery and settlement of these lands, as the islands appear on maps as early as 1339. From a portolan dating to 1351, and preserved in Florence, Italy, it would appear that the islands of Madeira had been discovered long before being claimed by the Portuguese expedition of 1418. In Libro del Conocimiento (1348–1349), a Castilian monk also identified the location of the islands in their present location, with the names Leiname (modern Italian legname, cognate of Portuguese madeira, “wood”), Diserta and Puerto Santo. Indeed the move by Portugal to claim the Madeiran islands was probably a response to Spains efforts at the time to claim and subdue the Canary Islands.

However humans never recorded the discovery of Porto Santo Island, or the other Madeira Islands, until 1418 when Porto Santo was accidentally discovered after captains were storm blown into its sheltered harbor. They were in the service of theHenry the Navigator. João Gonçalves Zarco and Tristão Vaz Teixeira had been ordered by King John I to discover new territory west of Africa, and had been sent off-course by a storm while making the volta do mar westward swing return voyage. The island’s name Porto Santo (en: “Holy Harbour”) was derived from the sailors’ stories of their discovery of a sheltered bay during the tempest, which was interpreted as divine deliverance. The first Portuguese settlers arrived in the 1420s.

Bartolomeu Perestrelo, a member of the team that later explored the Madeira Islands, became the first Captain-donatário of Porto Santo, by royal award in November 1445. It was he who released a female rabbit that had littered on the voyage, with her offspring, which multiplied catastrophically in a xeric island ecosystem that had evolved in isolation and had never known a flightless mammal. The loss of the native flora laid the island slopes open to erosion and colonization by European weedsthat accompanied the settlers.^[4] As a result, “the Porto Santo of 1400 is as lost to us as is the world before the Noachian flood”.

During the first centuries of settlement, life on Porto Santo was harsh, owing to the scarcity of potable water and the depredations of feral rabbits; there were also constant attacks by Barbary Coast pirates and French privateers.

The New World explorer Christopher Columbus married the Portuguese noblewoman Filipa Moniz Perestrelo, the daughter of Bartolomeu Perestrelo. For a while they lived on Porto Santo. The home is now a museum.

Madeira (740.7 km²), including Ilhéu de Agostinho, Ilhéu de São Lourenço, Ilhéu Mole (northwest);

Porto Santo (42.5 km²), including Ilhéu de Baixo ou da Cal, Ilhéu de Ferro, Ilhéu das Cenouras, Ilhéu de Fora, Ilhéu de Cima;

Desertas Islands (14.2 km²), including the three uninhabited islands: Deserta Grande Island, Bugio Island and Ilhéu de Chão;

Savage Islands (3.6 km²), archipelago 280 km south-southeast of Madeira Island including three main islands and 16 uninhabited islets in two groups: the Northwest Group (Selvagem Grande Island, Ilhéu de Palheiro da Terra, Ilhéu de Palheiro do Mar) and the Southeast Group (Selvagem Pequena Island, Ilhéu Grande, Ilhéu Sul, Ilhéu Pequeno, Ilhéu Fora, Ilhéu Alto, Ilhéu Comprido, Ilhéu Redondo, Ilhéu Norte).